When it comes to anxiety and panic attacks, I’m often asked if it’s a physical experience, a mental struggle or a spiritual battle. In my own experience and what I’ve heard from others, it’s rooted in all three areas.

Think about water for a moment. It can exists in three distinct states — liquid (water), vapor (steam) and solid (ice). Like water, our being consists of three distinct elements–physical, mental and spiritual. Paul closes out his first letter to the Thessalonians with this encouragement, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v5:23, emphasis mine). That is my prayer over you as well, that God would help you find freedom in your spirit and soul and body.

I hear many stories from those struggling, and very few pursue healing in all three areas. Often, people will pursue a bodily solution (like medication and exercise), but neglect the mental and spiritual aspects. Others may combine body and soul (like exercise and counseling), but neglect the spiritual. And, even faithful believers may focus primarily on the spiritual side of freedom (prayer and deliverance) but neglect the physical and mental aspects.

True freedom comes when you address all these areas.

The Body

Panic attacks are a very physical experience. Your body responds with increased adrenaline, rapid heart beat, shallow breathing and increased blood pressure. It’s getting ready to run or fight. Blood is pumped to your arms for fighting and legs for running. (Ever notice your hands tingling or getting cold?) Acid is released in your stomach to quickly digest food for energy. (Ever get butterflies in your stomach?) Your body is responding to a threat, either real or imagined.

There are certain triggers that can escalate that fight or flight mode, like caffeine or sugar. And, there are physical things you can do to reduce the anxiety, like exercise or medication. Early in my struggles, I found some peace with medication, but today I’m medication free by focusing on diet and exercise to help me release that excessive adrenaline. You can read more on my story about medication. (There maybe other medical triggers causing the anxiety and panic attacks. While it’s very rare, you should talk to you doctor.)

The Soul

The soul is your mind, that part of you that makes choices. The soul is where your memories live and your emotions are experienced. It’s an incredibly complex system of thoughts, ideas, choices and perspectives.

It’s also where anxiety and panic attacks are triggered. Just like the body can trigger those terrifying feelings, so can your soul. Maybe it’s a traumatic memory or a painful parental wound, the soul can initiate those experiences with fear.

When I was in college and the “episodes of fear” were rampant in my life, I made an appointment with a counselor who began sharing with me information about a term I had never heard before: “panic attacks”. A few years later, I began meeting regularly with a pastor who had experienced the same thing, but was now free. He began to teach me about my thoughts and choices, and how to renew my mind (Romans 12:2). But, he didn’t stop there. He began to teach me about…

The Spirit

Understanding the spiritual side of panic attacks changed everything for me. I believe it’s what gave me the edge to find true, complete freedom. Sadly, I believe it’s where most people fall short. The more I began to understand the truth, the more freedom I began to experience. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (Romans 8:32).

Regarding the spiritual side of fear and panic attacks, here are a few of the key topics that were incredibly helpful:

Grace

Understanding the finished work of Christ and all he has done for us has revolutionized my relationship with God. Here are a few messages I wrote about grace:

Authority

Even today, I don’t completely understand all of the authority that we truly have as believers. God has given us amazing authority here on the earth (Luke 10:19), and I believe the enemy’s greatest strategy is to keep us blind to our authority.

If we truly knew how big and powerful we were and just how small and powerless the enemy was, it would change everything.

Freedom

Combining all that I learned about the spiritual side of freedom, I chronicled my journey in this series of articles:

This week, as part of our church’s New Year devotional, we’ve been memorizing Ephesians 2:8,

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”

I’ve heard this scripture for years. So much so, that I’ve become quite familiar with it. But, that’s not a good thing. Too often, familiarity breeds complacency. The more we know something, the less importance we give it. It’s the “curse of knowledge”.

Each day this week as I said those words, something started to stir my soul. I began to realize that incredible freedom lies in the truth of these words. Freedom from fear, anxiety, torment and panic attacks is right there in these words.

Let me show you.

By grace

You have been saved

Through faith

By Grace

I’ve been sharing these past few weeks about how righteousness is a gift from God. It’s not something we can earn or work for. It’s a gift, just it says in Ephesians 2:8 and 9. In Romans 4, Paul contrasts the difference between a wage and gift, “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (v4, 5).

When you work for your right standing with God, then it’s accounted to you as a wage. The problem is that God requires perfection, so the wage becomes a debt against you that you’ll never be able to pay. None of us will ever be able to meet his requirements for righteousness, but he knew that, and he sent his Son to take our sin and give us his righteousness as a gift.

So, what is this gift that we have received by grace?

You have been Saved

The gift is salvation, but again, we are so familiar with this word. Do we really know what it means to be saved? What are we saved from?

To fully understand what it means, let’s go to the original language of the New Testament. This word saved comes from the Greek word sozo (sode’-zo). This word literally means “to be made whole in our body, soul and spirit.”

Too often, we think of it as being saved from hell. Salvation is so much more than that. Jesus didn’t just die to keep you out of hell–he died to make you whole (Isaiah 53:4-5), give you freedom (John 8:32), and to give you an abundant life (John 10:10).

Fear, panic, depression, and anxiety are often the results of deep, emotional wounds and trauma. You need to know that Jesus died to set you free from those crippling things, so that you can live life abundantly. He died to make you whole!

Through Faith

Like the word saved, I believe we have also become too familiar with this word faith. We’ve given it a variety of meanings and variations. She’s of this faith and he’s of that faith. If I just had more faith, then God surely would respond to my prayers.

Again, let me go back to the original language. This word faith comes from the Greek word pistis. Throughout the New Testament, it is translated as “faith”. Interestingly, the verb variation of this word is pisteuo, which is translated as “believe”. The word “faith” in the New Testament simply means belief or believing. To have faith is simply to believe.

Now, combine these three phrases: By grace, you have been saved, through faith.

Here’s the Season of Peace paraphrase: When you can truly believe that righteousness in Christ is a gift from God, you will be made whole in your body, soul and spirit.

This is such truth to me. I have experienced deeper levels of freedom and peace knowing that God is pleased with me. I can now boldly come into the throne of grace in my time of need (Hebrews 4:16), and talk to God as my Father. I don’t have to strive and strain to please him. He’s happy with me just as I am, because he has given me a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26).

Prayer: Father, help me understand more and more how by grace I have been saved through faith.

Last week, I explained the importance of treating our entire self–body, soul and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Last week’s message was about treating the body. This week, I want to talk about treating the soul.

What is the soul? It is that part of us that thinks, remembers and makes decisions. Our soul experiences emotions, memories and fear. The definition of “soul” often taught in churches is the “mind, will and emotions.”

So, how do you treat the soul? If there is one area that counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists have excelled in treating panic attacks, it is the area of the soul. Treatments like Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Exposure Therapy have done wonders for people battling anxiety and panic.

To treat the soul, we must start by changing the way we think. Somewhere in our past, a bad experience, tragic event or trauma to the soul has corrupted our thinking process. Dealing with everyday thoughts has become a challenge. We feed the fear with more fearful thoughts, triggering the body to respond. The cycle is vicious.

First, the mind. The Bible says in Romans 12:2 that we should “not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.” This is a powerful truth. The patterns of this world speak an ungodly message–the deceit, despair and infidelity of a soap opera; the murders, shootings and corruption revealed in the evening news; the lust, lies and unrealistic ideals of a beer commercial. What is going into your mind?

Don’t conform to the patterns of this world. Rather, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Through prayer, worship, Bible study and time alone with God, you can renew your mind. And, it’s not a one-time thing–it’s a daily experience. We need to daily experience God in refreshing ways. We need to make that heavenly connection.

Next, the will. Choosing how to respond to the onslaught of fearful thoughts directly involves our will.

I think about Jesus in the garden of Gethsamane when he was faced with fearful thoughts. I can’t even imagine what must have been going through his mind. He knew the kind of tortuous death that awaited him. He even prayed three times for God to show him another way–another way to restore man’s relationship with God. Yet, he ended his prayer with this: “Lord, not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22;42). He chose not to respond to the fear, but rather to God.

Finally, the emotions. I’ve heard people say, “Well, God never wants us to be emotional about things.” I don’t believe that. God has emotions–anger, joy, frustration, happiness, sadness, excitement. God is an emotional God, and we are created in his image (Genesis 1:26). I think the problem is when our emotions get the best of us. We should control our emotions, not let them control us.

One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control (Galatians 5:23), and when emotions rise up within us, taking control of our soul, we need to cry out to God for strength to manage our emotions. Yes, we can experience emotions. They are the spice of life. But when they control us, that spice quickly becomes bitter.

Treating the soul is very important in treating anxiety and panic attacks. I encourage you find ways to address each of the areas described in this message. Ask God for wisdom on how to renew your mind, respond to his will and regulate your emotions. In doing so, you will bring Godly balance into your life.

Prayer: Father, you created us to have a soul–a mind, a will, emotions. And when you created us, you said it was good. Our mind is good. Our will is good. Our emotions are good. Lord, help us renew our mind and heal our emotions.

My book, Season of Grace shares my journey from crippling panic attacks to a life of freedom. I share many of the practical, emotional and spiritual steps I took. You can order it from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

About

For most of my life, I battled crippling anxiety and panic attacks. For the longest time, I had no hope. My world was closing in all around me. Today, I am free and living a life full of peace and abundance. Freedom is real. You can be totally set free for the bondage of fear. [Read my story]